Open Back, upgrade from IFIMAN HE400

[Jbmorrey]

Yea, I have been to Bjorns plenty of times, they have Denon, but nothing in the upper end. A lot of Beats, Monster DNA, some Sennheiser, but the HD598 is the top model they have, other than momentums.

James

 

[kmitschiener]

You might like the HE 500s/ Mr. Speakers Alpha Dog- both are available for around $500 + Tax. While I don't own either, I have had long extended listening sessions with both. Both exhibit excellent clarity, while the 500s will give better sound staging and treble and the Alpha Dog will give you better bass. My personal preference, however, remains to be the HD 650. There's just something addicting with their sound...
 
Have fun and good luck choosing!

 

[Jbmorrey]

You see that is sometinhg I have heard, all of these 500+ headphones and such and then you see some that like the HD600 and HD650, more than them. Obviously price does noo dictate which headphones are best but I am really interested in trying out the HD600 and 650, I am hoping the previously mentioned guitsar shop that carries Sennheiser, has these to demo!

James

 

[BobMonkhouse]

Here are my fresh impressions from my last night head-fiers meet in Calgary. I listened to and compared HD600 and HD650. Firstly, if you don't have an opportunity to hear them properly amped, you will most likely make a wrong decision. Some don't find a big difference between the two, but to me they're very different. HD600 sound very similar to my Fidelio X2 - the Senns have marginally smoother more refined highs; the X2 has better mids. But again, the differences are small, so X2 is a contender for those liking the HD600. The HD650 is love it or hate it scenario. I happened to be in the "love it" group. They sounded terrific and unique amped by Woo Audio WA2.

 

[Jbmorrey]

Well, Currently I own the Schiit Modi2 Magni2 combo, so I would have to base it on being powered by that combo, I am not in a financial position to get much more of an amp than that combo at this time. Seems like even a VW can seem like a race car if you can afford to put 20K in the engine! Does that make sense. I know alot of headphones have the potential to be great, but it depends on how you amp them. I wonder if there would be a good list of headphones that will sound great with the Schiit magni.modi combo. Perhaps that might be a search..... time to look around the forum and see if I can find which headphones match the amps I have.

James

 

[kmitschiener]

Instead of buying new headphones you might want to invest in a better amp. The Magni 2 is ok, but from my experience tube amps are much better than ss at the mid fi level. You're likely to experience an increase in sound quality by stepping it up upstream.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Instead of buying new headphones you might want to invest in a better amp. The Magni 2 is ok, but from my experience tube amps are much better than ss at the mid fi level. You're likely to experience an increase in sound quality by stepping it up upstream.

 
Definition of "increase in sound quality" varies - in this case, it adds THD, so that "increase" also means "less fidelity" even though the tube distortion is generally a pleasing one.

 

[kmitschiener]

Well, not all distortion is bad

 

[Jbmorrey]

Well I also own the Little Dot II++ amp, but finding tubes for them has been an issue and currently I think the tubes I have now need an upgrade, not sure, they are the ones that came with the amp. I really do need to compare my SS amp to my Tube amp, have not done that extensive of a comparrison on the HE400 with my Little Dot amp

James

 

[kmitschiener]

Well, maybe you should do some comparisons. Maybe you won't need a headphone upgrade after all

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Well, not all distortion is bad

 

Keywords: "relative" and "pleasing." If one is open to using a warmifying colorifier and understands that that's what it does then that's alright, what's important is to understand how they work. I've run into people who argue that all tube designs are all Hi-Fi and all SS designs lose information in the music, and then when they run the set-ups Norah Jones sounds like she can use several tubes of Vicks Inhaler.

 

[Jbmorrey]

Well, you may be right, I think I need to do a little listening on my tube amp to compare for sure. The more I think about it, the more I am hoping it makes a difference in the positive. I have this issue however with always wanting to "upgrade" especially when I see the 400i. Always gotta have the new toy! My wallet hates that.

James

 

[Kozic]

Save up for the LCD2.2F and be done with it. I fond mine for $700 a demo pair or the mad dog pro may have the sound you are looking for I.E. strong bass smooth mids and just a bit of high end sparkle and they are on sale now like $380ish
Good luck

 

[kmitschiener]

Protege, relax. I'm not saying anything in absolutist terms

In the end though, all headphones have some sort of coloration, so might as well choose the flavor you like

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Protege, relax. I'm not saying anything in absolutist terms

In the end though, all headphones have some sort of coloration, so might as well choose the flavor you like

 
That's why I highlighted those keywords and said it's important to understand how they actually work.
 
Jeez why does everyone assume I'm angrily pounding on a keyboard when I post dead-pan, but before all this I had a tendency to casually joke around complete with emoticons and I got several people reporting me as "trolling"? The mods emphasized that different cultures have different sense of humor and on top of that individuals vary, but now that I have the tone of a BBC anchor I've had several people imagine me instead as a Fox News commentator.